14230

WiSe 21/22: Sociology in Arab Countries: from the institutional beginnings in 1925 until the present

Florian Zemmin

Information for students

Aims: participants will - be familiar with milestones of the institutional development of Sociology in Arab countries - know about the importance of both theoretical and structural, socio-political conditions in the (non-)development of Sociology - be able to state major characteristics of Sociology in Arab countries, also as concerns commonalities and differences with Sociology in other countries - have reflected questions of universality and particularity and be able to position themselves in respective debates - have strengthened their presentation skills - have gained additional experience in group collaboration and discussion close

Additional information / Pre-requisites

Requirements: participants will - give one input presentation on a common reading. This presentation must not be longer than ten minutes; it will summarize the main arguments of the text and will provide three to five questions for common discussion - give one input on an additional reading on the subject of the session close

Comments

The beginnings of sociology in the Arab world are conventionally dated to the year 1925, when the first chair of sociology was established at Cairo University and the first Arabic monograph on sociology (?ilm al-ijtima?) was published. Already in the preceding decades, sociological ideas were debated in the Arabic public. Thus, sociology, the science of modern society, manifested itself in European and Arab countries at roughly the same time. And, again not dissimilar to Europe, also in Arab countries, sociology became more widely established at universities since the 1960s. Yet, while sociology was very successful in many European countries in terms of political and societal influence, Arab sociologists for a long time have been criticizing the lack of quality and impact of sociology in their countries. Next to economic and political conditions, some have attributed this perceived weakness to a dependence on European theories. In this course, we will look at milestones of the historical and institutional development of sociology in Arab countries and its present state and discuss selected contributions of Arab sociologists, not least under a comparative interest in both structural and theoretical characteristics of sociology in Arab countries and commonalities with sociology in Germany and other European countries. All common readings will be in English; additional literature (to be presented by participants also according to their language skills) will be in Arabic, English, French and German. close